Hawk still stalks Library of Congress

By
Elizabeth Flock

(Courtesy Abby Brack/Library of Congress)

UPDATE, Jan. 25, 11:15 a.m.

Shirley you can't be serious? The hawk (Shirley? Jefferson?) has STILL not been caught.

In addition to all the State of the Union madness in this town today, the Library of Congress has events booked involving the first lady and a few Cabinet secretaries, so they are halting capture attempts for today. (Don't worry, they've kept the bait out so the bird doesn't starve).

Capture attempts will resume tomorrow at 7 a.m. Both the Raptor Conservancy of Virginia and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are optimistic that by early tomorrow, the bird will be ready to eat. Translation: She'll be ready, at last, for capture. We'll be there with a camera crew, so come back to watch Shirley-Jefferson fly free.

UPDATE: Jan. 24, 2:30 p.m.

The Humane Society and a team of falconers from Charlottesville, VA, are assisting in the bird's capture.

UPDATE: Jan. 24, 12:45 p.m.

The American Eagle Foundation voiced concerns Monday that the hawk would soon die if it had not been fed over the past five days. Al Cecere, founder and president of the foundation, says the bird is not likely to have been well fed before entering the library because of the cold and snowy weather.

But good news! The rescue team late last night found a trap (filled with bait) that the bird was attracted to, although the cagey hawk took just enough of the bait and avoided capture. On the Library of Congress blog, Matt Raymond wrote today: "The hawk is now fed and will most likely not
be ready to eat again until Tuesday. The team now believes that the
hawk has a predilection for frozen quail and not live bait."

Specialists from the Raptor Conservancy of Northern Virginia placed baited cages in the Main Reading Room's dome, where the bird is circling, and strung a net on the bottom of the opening of the dome so the hawk can't swoop down and disturb researchers.

As a secondary measure, they also pulled mesh tightly across the
opening to the dome (which they call the “lantern”) so that she cannot
descend into the Main Reading Room, and this would also catch her if she were to fall.

Since its arrival, the hawk has so captured the public's attention that the membership office of the library was packed this Saturday.

The Main Reading Room staff has affectionately dubbed the hawk “Shirley,” after the Library of Congress blogger Matt Raymond made an "Airplane" reference to readers who doubted the bird's presence.

Our own contest to name the hawk
came up with a plethora of clever monikers for the bird. The winning
name so far? "Jefferson," because of Thomas Jefferson's contributions
to the library.

A few of our commenters thought the bird's nom de plume should honor other architects of great libraries. Commenter "RobertMuskett" suggested the name "Demetrius Phalereus," because he was the "true founder of the Great Library in Ancient Alexandria."

Commenter "janmckelvey" suggested the name "Casey," after Thomas Lincoln Casey and his son Edward Pierce Casey, "who were the engineering/architect/interior design team responsible for completing the wonderful Thomas Jefferson Building."

Our commenter "AnneMiles1" suggested "Barry" in honor of the famous political "hawk" Barry Goldwater, and "poppopk" suggested "Deficit Hawk."

Until library officials can have the bird removed, our contest for what to call the hawk is ongoing. Tweet your suggestions to #namethehawk or leave them in the comments field below.

Recommend calling the the bird The Rights of Man (name of a ship from Mellville's Billy Bud). Will the bird be free to the wild or imprisoned in some zoo or will it continue to be tormented in the warm halls of state without an adequate meal? :0)

There is a red tailed hawk who likes to feed in front of the National Museum of the American Indian and roost on the White House South lawn, I wonder if it is the same fellow.... (can't provide pictures and the site won't accept them?)